Is it time to panic, yet?
That was the question following the fourth straight loss by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.
Eighteen games in, the Leafs have won eight games, which matches their fewest number of wins to start a season since drafting Auston Matthews in 2016. That they accomplished this unflattering feat with one of the most favourable schedules in NHL has to be concerning.
After all, 13 of Toronto’s 18 games have been played at home. Only four of their opponents so far this season (Montreal, New Jersey, Carolina and Los Angeles) made the playoffs last year. And yet, following Thursday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Kings, the Leafs find themselves in 14th place in the Eastern Conference standings.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is that even with Matthews out of the lineup with a lower-body injury and both of their goalies currently unavailable, the Leafs are only four points out of first place.
In other words, there's no reason to panic — yet.
“Panic’s never going to help,” said coach Craig Berube. “But there is a level of urgency, for sure. It’s been there for a minutes. But I’m not going to panic. That doesn’t help anything or anybody.”
Give it a couple of more weeks and Berube might feel different.
'Maybe End The Season': Maple Leafs Fans Sound The Alarm After Matthews' Injury And Another LossThe Toronto Maple Leafs allowed 15 goals in their last three games, and Auston Matthews' status is uncertain after suffering a lower-body injury. Some fans are already bringing up tanking.After all, U.S. Thanksgiving (Nov. 27) has long been the barometer for predicting whether teams will make the playoffs. Last year, only three teams that were out of a playoff spot by the holiday weekend ended up qualifying for the post-season.
Toronto was not one of those teams. By Thanksgiving last year, the team was in first place in the Atlantic Division with a 13-7-2 record. The Leafs ended up winning their division. But that team had Mitch Marner. That team also had a defensive identity, which along with their 100-point winger, who was traded to Vegas in the summer, appears to have vanished this season.
This year’s Leafs lack confidence and structure. They turnover too many pucks. They give up too many shots, too many odd-man rushes and far too many goals — especially in the second period, where Toronto has now given up 27 goals this season, the second most behind the Edmonton Oilers, who've given up 29.
It’s their second year playing under Berube, but it looks like he and his system were implemented less than a month ago.
The Leafs' offense is ranked fourth with 3.61 goals per game, which according to William Nylander is a positive because "scoring goals (is) that's harder." But they're also averaging the most goals-against (3.83 per game) and the fifth-most shots (31.2 per game). On Thursday, Toronto gave up a 2-0 lead in the second period, and a 3-2 lead in the third period, after being outshot 37-15 in a game that they never deserved to be leading in the first place.
'That Doesn't Help Anything Or Anybody': Maple Leafs Not Hitting The Panic Button Yet Despite Four Straight LossesThe <a href="https://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/lak-vs-tor/2025/11/13/2025020269">Toronto Maple Leafs got ahead of the L.A. Kings</a> early on Thursday night, yet they didn't finish the game on the winning end.
"We got the lead in the third and I thought we sat back a little too much," said Berube. "You know, again, just advancing that puck up the ice with speed, jumping, getting the holes. It's confidence for me a little bit, and puck play. Like, you know, the plays are there. We're just not making them and just not seeing it well enough right now, but we've got to pick up our pace. We've got to be more confident in those plays. To me, that's the difference in the game."
One month in, Toronto, which has made the playoffs in each of the past nine seasons, doesn’t look like a playoff team. Instead, they look like that team that won eight games in 2016-17, back when Matthews, Marner and William Nylander were rookies and the Leafs hadn't figured out how good they were supposed to be.
Why this team, which is older and more experienced, hasn't figured that part is might be the most confusing aspect of this season so far.
“I don’t think you go out and expect anything,” said John Tavares, who had a pair of goals against the Kings on Thursday. “I think you have to go out there and earn it. I think with the team we have, a veteran team, we know we haven’t been to the level that we expect on a consistent basis. We have to work our way through it. Obviously, it’s been a battle for us … things are only getting tougher and tougher within our own division, within the league.”
Well, before things get tougher, they get easier. Or, at least, it should be easier.
The Leafs have five more games before U.S. Thanksgiving. Three of them are against teams that did not make the playoffs last year.
If that's not enough to get the Leafs into a temporary playoff spot, then they probably don't deserve to be in one in the first place.
“There’s lots of hockey left,” said Tavares. “But that doesn’t mean that you don’t take any game for granted. They all mean the same. But obviously, the more games that go by there’s less runway.
“We still have more than half the season to go — we’re not even at the quarter mark yet.”
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